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@All: Haaaalllllloooooooooo? Jemand hier? Ich knippse mal wieder das Licht an. Vielleicht kommt dann jemand wieder rein. <klick> Verschiedene Kommentare dazu: 1.) XENOVA geht nun eine Fusion mit Cantab ein, welche sich zuvor selbst zum Verkauf angeboten hatten. Cantab Pharmaceuticals, the vaccine specialist that put itself up for sale last October, said it was merging with Xenova Group to create a company valued at a shade under Pounds 124 million. 2.) CANTAB PHARMACEUTICALS, the vaccine developer that has been up for sale since October, has found a partner in Xenova, the cancer drug specialist. The firms announced their intention to merge yesterday in an all-share deal that will value the enlarged group at pounds 108m. Xenova will exchange 11 new shares for every seven Cantab shares held, valuing Cantab at 122p a share, based on Xenova`s closing price last night. Shares in Cantab closed down 3p at 117p. Xenova ended down 11.5p at 77.5p, having fallen as much as 15 per cent earlier in the day. One analyst said: "People are worried the two companies are merging from a position of weakness, having missed out on some better deals last year." Xenova stock peaked at 440p and Cantab at 723p in March last year as they benefited from a wider biotech frenzy. Cantab later failed to merge with Peptide Therapeutics, now called Acambis. That disappointment was followed in October by the rejection of the group`s lead drug, a genital warts treatment, in Phase II clinical trials. Eight days later, Cantab parted company with its chief executive, Jurek Sikorski. Xenova, which employs 60 at its base in Slough, Berkshire, said last year it was open to a merger with a small cancer company. Cantab has more than 130 employees. Xenova`s chief executive, David Oxlade, who will also head the combined company, said: "This is an opportunity to create a really major player in the European biotech sector." After the merger, Xenova and Cantab will have seven products in clinical development. The new company`s pipeline will include Xenova`s drug-resistance modulator, XR9576, which helps prevent cancer patients from becoming resistant to chemotherapy. Cantab will bring to the partnership its DISC technology platforms for the development of vaccines, on which its most advanced projects are based. The enlarged company, whose new name has not yet been confirmed, will have cash reserves of pounds 30m, excluding pounds 10m in Xenova warrants. Mr Oxlade declined to put a figure on the potential synergies the deal would bring, but he said these would be "significant" in comparison to the two companies` combined cash burn of about pounds 20m a year. Releasing its full-year results yesterday, Cantab said its net loss for 2000 narrowed to pounds 3.9m from pounds 8.7m the year before. Xenova`s operating loss from continuing operations was unchanged at pounds 9.4m. 3.) Es wird sogar davon geredet, daß XENOVA indirekt Cantab übernommen hätte: Biotech company Xenova Group last night rejected City criticism of its pounds 62m takeover of Cantab Pharmaceuticals, which created one of Europe`s largest drug development portfolios. The surprise announcement ended speculation over Cantab`s future since it put itself up for sale after the failure of an advanced treatment for genital warts depressed its share price. The all-share deal received a lukewarm reaction in the City, with analysts saying it was `nothing exciting`. Others questioned whether Cantab, previously linked with suitors such as Powderject, would fit Slough-based Xenova`s product range. One analyst said he was `completely underwhelmed` by the news. The deal came on the day both companies reported full-year losses for 2000. Vaccine specialist Cantab was in the red to the tune of pounds 3.9m compared to an pounds 8.7m loss last year while Xenova showed an unchanged loss of pounds 9.4m. Xenova`s chief executive, David Oxlade, who will be chief executive officer of the new group, insisted the tie-up would produce a strong company focusing on treatments for cancer, infectious diseases and addiction. The enlarged group would boast one of Europe`s biggest clinical pipelines and there would be more muscle in its partnerships with big drugs companies such as Celltech, GlaxoSmithKline and Pfizer. Defying the waves of criti cism whenever a drug or compound fails, he predicted the new group would be loss-making for several years until the portfolio is developed. `Companies with a narrow portfolio are more of a risk,` he said. `In a sense, difficulties are to be expected as these are complex areas.` Mr Oxlade said some redundancies were likely, principally in duplicated operations such as payroll, but numbers would be relatively small. Cantab has 130 staff while Xenova has about 60. 4.) Cantab Pharmaceuticals fell 3 to 117p and Xenova 11 1/2 to 77 1/2p as their Pounds 123.7m merger announcement failed to generate enthusiasm. Investors were disappointed that Cantab failed to choose a company with a better balance sheet. The groups said the merged company would have one of the largest clinical development pipelines in the European biopharmaceuticals sector. 5.) Xenova, the drug development group, has surprised the market with a Pounds 53m all-share takeover of its UK rival, Cantab Pharmaceuticals. Under the deal, Cantab shareholders will receive 11 new Xenova shares for every seven Cantab shares they hold, valuing Cantab at Pounds 53.2m. The Cambridge-based company will also bring Xenova about Pounds 20m of cash. Analysts said the agreed deal was unexpected as Xenova specialises in cancer products and had not been seen as a likely bidder for Cantab, which develops vaccines. Shares in Xenova fell 11 1/2p, or 13 per cent, to 77 1/2p, as some analysts questioned the strategic fit of the takeover. "Our first reaction is to be puzzled. I can`t see the strategic logic other than that both companies lack critical mass," said Sally Bennett, analyst at ING Barings. Shares in Cantab, which put itself up for sale last year after a vaccine against genital warts failed in clinical trials and its chief executive left, fell 3p to 117p, valuing the group at Pounds 51.4m. The company is believed to have received about 20 expressions of interests from US and UK groups, although several groups withdrew in the latest rounds of bidding. David Oxlade, Xenova`s chief executive, said the acquisition would increase his company`s drug pipeline and reduce the negative impact of product failures. The combined group will have seven drug candidates in clinical trials and five in pre-clinical development. Xenova has one anti-cancer product due to start the latest phase of clinical trials but its second most advanced drug has suffered a series of setbacks and was officially dropped yesterday. Cantab will add three vaccines in cancer - at an early stage of development - and projects to develop vaccines against genital herpes and addiction to cocaine and nicotine. Comment * Yesterday`s share price fall virtually wipes out the premium Xenova was paying to Cantab shareholders. Even allowing for the usual fall that affects the bidder`s shares in all-paper deals, this is not good news for Xenova. The company undoubtedly needed to broaden its thin cancer products pipeline but buying Cantab is not the ideal solution. It is true that Cantab`s technology can be used in cancer but the company`s most promising product is in genital herpes - hardly a perfect fit. Cantab shareholders are not faring much better either. The company received more than 20 approaches and yet they are being rewarded with no cash and shares in Xenova. On a purely financial basis, the combined group looks undervalued but investors will need to be convinced that the deal makes strategic sense before buying into it. Copyright: The Financial Times Limited |
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| aus der Diskussion: | XENOVA - DISKUSSIONS-THREAD Nr. 2 (Stand: 06.11.2000) |
| Autor (Datum des Eintrages): | Panospana (20.02.01 23:48:42) |
| Beitrag: | 35 von 275 (ID:2948899) |
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